I have come here for help, not ridicule and humiliation in which I have to face nearly every single damn day of my life.

I am 18 years of age, and I'm not your average teenage girl, on the outside at least.. I weigh in at 105Kg (which is about 200 and something pounds?) but it's not my fault that I am this way. I have been fat for as long as I can remember, the steroids I used to to take to control my severe asthma was a major trigger in the weight gain. I've been thin up until I was about 8 years of age, since then I have been packing on the kilos and it wont stop! I live a healthy life style, I'm not lazy at all, I don't binge or eat junk all of the time, I exercise daily and I have a healthy diet, overall I am a very active person .. But why am I so obese? What is wrong with me?

I've tried to lose the weight, there was one stage a few years ago where I starved myself as a last resort thing, nearly killed myself in the process because by the end of it I had severe stomach ulc ers and most of my stomach lining had been eaten away, I lost a bit of weight from that, I dropped down to 80Kg in a matter of months, but then it got too far to that point that I was hospitalised. After the recovery I started packing on the kilos, again, and this depressed me even more. I had a full set of blood work done to test for thyroid complications or anything that would be causing the weight gain, but they all came out negative, there's nothing wrong with me, I am perfectly healthy.

I remember when I was about 12, my stomach started getting softer and I developed cellulite on my thighs and buttox, then stretch marks started to appear, not just on my hips, but all over my stomach, my arms, thighs and the backs of my legs .. I do not know what to do, I still have all the stretch marks, and I would like to get rid of them, I want to lose the weight but how..? I want to be thin and attractive, I want to be able to walk out in public wearing low cut jeans and a cute little tank top, without being afraid that someone will ridicule me or humiliate me (which happens on a regular basis) I want to be normal, I want to wear what all the other girls wear and actually look GOOD .. But I'm afraid that if I do become thin, I will still have lose skin around my stomach, thighs and arms, and the stretch marks will still be noticable so I will have to hide it and all I really want is to be able to have a nice, flat normal looking stomach without the stretch marks and saggy skin! Same goes for the rest of my body.. Is there any way to get this fixed up after the weight loss? and do you have any ideas on what weight loss would actually WORK for me? or will I just continue to grow until I eventually pop, or get so big that I cannot fit through regular door ways :/

{ - removed - }

Last edited by moderator2; 05-04-2005 at 07:27 AM.
Reason: please read and follow the posting rules - no pictures or personal websites

I exercise 3 hours a day, 7 days weekly. My diet includes a range of fresh fruits and vegetables, bread, meat and a little bit of dairy. I eat three home prepared meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner (but the meals themselves are rather small) and if you're lucky, I may eat take away once every so often (usually onces every 3 months or so). So where am I going wrong? why do I keep gaining and not losing if I'm doing the right thing?

well if you're excercising and eating like you say you are, theres no reason why you shouldnt be losing the weight.
although excercising for 3 hours a day is way too excessive in my view, seriously. if you're doing that 7 days a week then its probabaly doing you more harm than good because you're not gettin time to recover, and thats one of the most important things when excercising. what do you do for your excercise? to get maximum weightloss you should be aiming to go jogging regularly (5 times a week) for at least 20 minutes, and then doing some resistance training (weights) 3 non consecutive days a week to boost your metabolism.
if you do this, and eat small, healthy balanced meals like you say you are doing then the weight should come off eventually.
if not then maybe its time to see a doctor, because there could be some other reason thats making you gain.